Closure

ABSTRACT

A closure made up of two closure parts for the detachable connection of a brassiere or similar article of clothing, namely, a closure which can be easily produced and which ensures improved handling during the hooking and unhooking of the hook-and-eye connection, especially also in the case of closure parts which are quite thin. To improve the ability to grip the article of clothing, the base tape of the closure part provided with hooks or eyes has an embossing introduced into the surface on one side.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims priority of EP 13 165 475.8, filed Apr. 26, 2013, the priority of this application is hereby claimed and this application is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The object of the invention is a closure made up of two closure parts for connecting the two side parts of a brassiere or similar article of clothing.

It is known that the side parts of a brassiere or similar article of clothing can be connected by a hook-and-eye closure. For this purpose, separate closure parts are usually produced, namely, a first closure part with hooks and a second closure part with eyes. These closure parts are attached to the side parts of the article of clothing, and in this way a detachable hook-and-eye closure for the article of clothing is obtained. So that closures of this type do not poke through the top layer of clothing, it is desirable for the closure parts to be as thin as possible. A closure which is very thin, however, makes it more difficult to insert the hooks and to remove them again, that is, to hook and unhook the hook-and-eye connection.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The goal of the present invention is to make available a closure for the detachable connection of a brassiere or similar article of clothing which can be produced easily and which ensures improved handling during the hooking and unhooking of the hook-and-eye connection, especially also in the case of closure parts which are quite thin.

The closure according to the invention is a hook-and-eye type of closure, which consists of two closure parts, namely, a first closure part with hooks and a second closure part with eyes. One of the two closure parts is attached to each side part of a brassiere or similar article of clothing to achieve a detachable hook-and-eye closure for this article. The closure part provided with hooks consists of a single-layer or multi-layer base tape, which comprises on its rear side at least one hook; preferably, however, it has two hooks so as to distribute the forces as uniformly as possible for the hook-and-eye connection. The closure part provided with eyes consists of a single-layer or multi-layer base tape, which comprises on its front side at least one eye, but preferably two eyes, so as to distribute the forces as uniformly as possible for the hook-and-eye connection. Even more preferably it has several rows of two eyes each, so that the wearer of the article of clothing can adjust the width of the article. To improve the ability to grip the article of clothing when managing the hook-and-eye closure, that is, when engaging the hooks in the eyes or when disengaging the hooks of the first closure part from the eyes of the second closure part, it is advantageous for the front side of the closure part with the hooks to have an embossing introduced into the surface of the front side of this closure part. In the same way, an embossing can also be introduced into the surface of the rear side of the closure part with the eyes. This embossing or these several embossings on the front of the hook closure part and/or the rear of the eye closure part are impressed into at least one layer of the base tape. In one possible embodiment, the embossing is provided outside the area where the hooks are arranged on the rear side or outside the area where the eyes are arranged on the front side.

An embossing of this type which improves the ability to grip can have various contour lines, so that different outline shapes can be obtained for the embossing, such as oval, round, triangular, rectangular, or polygonal outline shapes. In an advantageous embodiment, an approximately oval outline shape is selected, because this is adapted to the shape of the tip of the finger used to hook or unhook the hook-and-eye connection and can accept and hold the tip of the finger, which easily fits the oval shape. In addition, embossings with outline shapes whose contour lines show a free linear design are also conceivable. Such freely selected contour lines can lead to outline shapes of a graphic nature and represent, for example, the outlines of a star, a flower, a heart, or some other type of desired image.

In addition, different patterns can be provided for the embossing inside the contour lines. For example, different reliefs can project from the base surface of the embossing. The base surface is the most deeply embossed area of the embossing. This base surface is located below the plane of the surface of the side of the base tape into which the embossing has been introduced. The base surface represents, so to speak, the “floor” of the embossing. From this base surface, structures rise in the form of a relief, which extend to the surface of the base tape or may also terminate below the plane of this surface. In particular, the design of the relief can also be selected so that the relief structure rises only slightly above the base surface in the center of the embossing, whereas the height of the relief increases progressively in the direction toward the contour lines of the embossing. A relief arranged in this way within the contour lines can represent different patterns, including uniform structures such as raised dimple patterns, groove patterns, grid patterns, checkerboard patterns, honeycomb patterns, waffle patterns, or even ornaments, images, or letters such as a logo, possibly a company logo.

In the following, at least one method for producing an inventive closure part provided with hooks for a detachable hook-and-eye closure is described, as a result of which in particular a hook-type closure part with improved grip is obtained. A closure part provided with eyes can be obtained in comparable fashion. For this purpose, a textile layer, such as one in the form of a textile tape, is selected, at least a certain percentage of which contains synthetic fibers, which can be melted and/or permanently deformed by heat and/or pressure. This can be any desired textile material with inwoven meltable threads, such as threads of thermoplastic fibers. In the case of a preferred embodiment, a textile material is selected which consists completely or partially of a polyamide fiber material, preferably Nylon. One textile layer of this textile material containing heat-activatable fibers is sent to an embossing machine, and by means of the embossing machine the embossings are introduced into this textile layer. These embossings are provided at regular intervals. In the case of tape-like layers, the embossings are introduced in single file, and in the case of wider layers, they can be introduced into the layer in double or multiple file. The distance between the embossings is selected so that the closure part to be obtained has the desired number of embossings. Because, in the case of a brassiere closure, the individual closure parts are small in comparison to the size of the tips of the wearer's fingers which are placed onto the embossings during the hooking and unhooking processes, that is, when the hook-and-eye closure is being connected or disconnected, only one embossing is provided for each closure part. The method also makes it possible, of course, to introduce several embossings. To obtain exactly one embossing per closure part, the distance between successive embossings is adjusted during the embossing process in such a way that what is later to become the component piece or the individual base tape acquires exactly one embossing in the preferred manner.

The textile material used for the base tape in this method contains heat-activatable fibers, which make it possible for the pattern to be embossed. For example, a hot-pressing machine or an ultrasound device which can deform or melt the synthetic fibers present in the textile material by heat or pressure can be used. So that the embossing in the textile layer acquires a relief-like structure, a pattern template is used during the embossing process, which transfers the pattern to the textile layer during the embossing.

Pieces are removed from the embossed textile layer by means of a cutting device. During the cutting operation, the edges, for example, can also be trimmed; in particular, the corners can be rounded.

Various known cutting devices can be used to cut off and trim the embossed textile pieces; an ultrasound device is preferred for this purpose. In an especially preferred embodiment, an ultrasound device is used simultaneously to emboss, to cut off, and to trim the pieces.

At least one hook, preferably two hooks, are attached to the pieces thus obtained. By folding the pieces, the bases of the hooks can be covered over, or a second textile layer can be used to cover the bases of the hooks, as a result of which a two-layer base tape is obtained for the closure part.

The two layers of the base tape are joined to each other, and as a result a closure part provided with hooks and an embossing is thus obtained. The two layers of the base tape are joined to each other in the known manner by means of an adhesive bond or by welding.

The advantage of the inventive closure is that, because of the embossing on the front side of the closure part provided with the hooks and/or on the rear side of the closure part provided with the eyes, the handling of the closure part in question, especially during the hooking and unhooking of the hook-and-eye connection, is significantly improved, wherein the improved grip is achieved without the need to apply any additional layers or similar means and can be used for any type of hook closure part and any type of eye closure part, even and especially for closure parts which are quite thin.

The various features of novelty which characterize the invention are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of the disclosure. For a better understanding of the invention, its operating advantages, specific objects attained by its use, reference should be had to the drawings and descriptive matter in which there are illustrated and described preferred embodiments of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

In the drawing:

FIG. 1 shows the front sides of the closure parts of the inventive closure;

FIG. 2 shows the rear sides of the closure parts of the inventive closure according to FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows a cross section through the hook closure part according to FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 shows the front side of another hook closure part;

FIG. 5 shows the front side of another hook closure part; and

FIG. 6 shows the front side of another hook closure part.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIGS. 1-3 show an inventive closure for connecting the side parts of an article of clothing. Additional modifications of a closure part 10 provided with hooks 11 are shown in FIGS. 4-6. Parts which are the same function have been given the same reference numbers. In these examples, the inventive embossings 16 are described only on the basis of the closure part 10 provided with hooks 11. Similar embossings can be provided only on the closure part 20 provided with eyes 21, or they can be provided on both parts.

The inventive closure shown in FIGS. 1-3 comprises two closure parts 10, 20, namely, a first closure part 10 with hooks 11 on the rear side 14 and a second closure part 20 with eyes 21 on the front side 23.

The first closure part 10 consists of a two-layer base tape 12, best seen in FIG. 3. On the front side 13, an embossing 16 is present, which is pressed into the surface 15 of the front side 13, best seen in FIG. 3. This embossing 16 is located a certain distance B away from the outer edge 17, which faces the second closure part 20. The distance B of the embossing 16 is selected so that this distance B is greater than the distance A, namely, the distance of the hooks 11 from this same outer edge 17. As a result, the embossing 16 on the front side 13 of the closure part 10 is located next to the hooks 11 on the rear side 14 of the closure part 10. An adjacent arrangement of this type for the hooks 11 and the embossing 16 is not a precondition for an advantageous application of the closure. Especially in the case of thicker closure parts 10, that is, in the case of multi-layer base tapes 12, the embossing 16 can be present at any desired point of the front side 13.

The first closure part 10 was produced in the following way. A textile layer in the form of a tape consisting of 100% Nylon was sent to an embossing machine, in this case an ultrasound device. In this ultrasound device, embossings 16 are introduced at regular intervals into the tape-like textile layer. Pieces with a length of 30 mm are cut off from this textile tape-like layer with the spaced-apart embossings 16, and the corners are rounded by an appropriate trimming cut at one edge, i.e., the edge which is later to become edge 17. On the opposite, narrow edge of the piece, which has a width of 28 mm, two hooks 11 are attached centrally with a distance of 10 mm between them; that is, each hook 11 is located 7 mm away from the long edge of the piece.

The piece is now folded into a two-layer base tape 12. As a result of this folding, what is obtained is a closed edge 18 opposite the edge 17 with the rounded corners. In this example, the piece is folded in such a way that the front side 13 has a length of 16 mm and the rear side 14 a length of 14 mm. Then the two layers of the base tape 12 are joined to each other along their edges, indicated by the welded seam 19 in FIG. 2. Thus a closure part 10 has been formed, in which the hooks 11 remain at a distance A of 4 mm from the edge 17. The embossing 16 on the front side 13 is located at a distance B of 6 mm from the edge 17 and shows, according to FIG. 1, a raised dimple pattern as a relief 163, which projects above the base surface 162. The contour line 161 of the embossing 16 is adapted to the contour of a fingerprint; that is, the contour line 161 has a more-or-less oval shape. As can be seen more easily in FIG. 3, the embossing 16 is pressed into the surface 15 of the front side 13; that is, the base surface 162 is located below the plane of the surface 15, whereas the dimples, which form the relief 163, extent into the plane of the surface 15.

The second closure part 20 shown in this example consists of a base tape 22, which is located on the front side 23, and a soft backing 26 on the rear side 24. This closure part 20 can be joined at the edge to the edge of a side part of an article of clothing such as a brassiere. The joining is accomplished at the edge opposite the outer edge 27. At this edge, there is an opening 28 between the base tape 22 and the backing 26, so that here it is possible to insert the edge of the side part so that it can be joined to the closure part 20. The base tape 22 consists in this exemplary embodiment of several layers, namely, a stiffening layer (not visible), to which the bases of the eyes 21 are sewn, and four layers, which cover the bases of the eyes 21, so that only the holes in the eyes 21 are visible on the front side 23 of the base tape 20. These covering layers of the base tape 22 consist of 100% Nylon in the present example. The layers of the base tape 22 are joined to the backing 26 by the use of an adhesive. The backing 26, which takes up the entire rear side 24 and forms a contact surface 25, consists in this example of 86% Nylon and 14% microfiber Spandex. The contact surface 25 represents the surface which comes in contact with the skin of the wearer of the article of clothing and is therefore made of a soft material. In other embodiments, there is also the option of embossing this contact surface—as previously described.

FIGS. 4-6 show additional outlines and reliefs 163 for an embossing 16. In FIG. 4, the embossing 16 has a round contour line 161. From the base surface 162, a rib-like relief 163 projects upward, which extends to the plane of the surface 15 of the front side 13. FIG. 5 shows a more-or-less rectangular contour line 161 for the embossing 16. A checkerboard-like relief 163 rises from the base surface 162. FIG. 6 shows another embodiment of an embossing 16. The contour line 161 is more-or-less trapezoidal. A relief 163, which represents a letter, rises from the base surfaces 162. It is clear that an extremely wide variety of linear designs can be selected for the contour line 161 for an embossing 16, and also the shape and structuring of the relief 163 which is elevated above the base surface 162 can also be freely selected.

While specific embodiments of the invention have been shown and described in detail to illustrate the inventive principles, it will be understood that the invention may be embodied otherwise without departing from such principles. 

We claim:
 1. A closure comprising: two closure parts for connecting and disconnecting two side parts of a brassiere or similar article of clothing, the closure parts including a first closure part with hooks and a second closure part with eyes for a detachable hook-and-eye connection; wherein the first closure part is a single-layer or multi-layer base tape, which has a rear side with at least one hook, and a front side; wherein the second closure part is a single-layer or multi-layer base tape, which has a front side with at least one eye, and a rear side, wherein to improve gripability, the base tape of the first closure part has an embossing introduced on the front side and/or the base tape of the second closure part has an embossing introduced on the rear side.
 2. The closure according to claim 1, wherein the base tape of at least one of the closure parts is of a textile material containing at least a certain percentage of synthetic fibers of a type that are permanently deformable by heat or pressure.
 3. The closure according to claim 2, wherein the base tape of the at least one of the closure parts consists completely of a polyamide fiber material.
 4. The closure according to claim 3, wherein the base tape consists of Nylon.
 5. The closure according to claim 1, wherein the embossing on the front side of the base tape is outside of an area where the hook is provided on the rear side, so that there is no interference with the hook or with the attachment of the hook to the base tape.
 6. The closure according to claim 1, wherein two hooks are provided on the first closure part at an equal distance from an outer edge of the base tape facing the second closure part, and wherein the embossing on the front side of the base tape is provided in an area located at a distance from the outer edge of the base tape, wherein the distance of the embossing from the outer edge is greater than the distance of the hooks from the outer edge.
 7. The closure according to claim 1, wherein the embossing has an outline shape selected from the group consisting of oval, round, triangular, rectangular, polygonal outline and free linear designs.
 8. The closure according to claim 1, wherein the embossing comprises different patterns within contour lines.
 9. The closure according to claim 8, wherein reliefs rise from a base surface of the embossing located below a plane of a surface of the base tape.
 10. The closure according to claim 9, wherein the reliefs are uniform structures, ornaments, images or letters.
 11. The closure according to claim 8, wherein the reliefs projecting from the base surface of the embossing have a raised dimple pattern or a groove pattern or a grid pattern or a checkerboard pattern or a honeycomb pattern or a waffle pattern or a logo.
 12. A method for producing a closure part provided with hooks or eyes for a detachable hook-and-eye connection, comprising the steps of: feeding a textile layer containing fibers which can be activated by heat and/or pressure to an embossing machine and introducing embossings at regular intervals into the layer using the embossing machine; cutting off pieces of a desired size from the embossed textile layer and selectively trimming the embossed textile pieces with a cutting device; attaching at least one hook to a textile piece or attaching at least one eye to a textile piece; folding the pieces and/or applying another textile layer, so that a base of the hook or a base of the eye is covered, as a result of which a two-layer or multi-layer base tape is obtained; and joining the layers of the base tape.
 13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the embossing is produced by a hot-pressing device or by an ultrasound device, wherein a pattern template transfers a structure of the embossing to the textile layer.
 14. The method according to claim 12, including selecting a spacing between the embossings so that each piece to be obtained later or each base tape to be obtained later acquires exactly one embossing.
 15. The method according to claim 12, wherein the cutting-off and trimming of the embossed textile pieces are carried out by an ultrasound device.
 16. The method according to claim 15, wherein the embossing, the cutting-off, and the trimming of the pieces are carried out by an ultrasound device.
 17. The method according to claim 12, including bonding the two layers of the base tape together by an adhesive or by welding. 